The Case for Optimism

Recently, I wrote an article on lost causes on the Left. I began it with this quotation from a civil rights activist in the mid-1960’s: Mel Leventhal.

Everything meaningful that’s ever happened in the world, any change, any improvement comes about because of optimism. The pessimists don’t get anything done. They’re naysayers. You have to see the potential for change. And you’ve got to see it not in terms of the moment but in terms of the long view, the long haul.

Two days later, the president...